Sweet summer - Ihana kesä!

It's been a wonderful and warm July. Truly amazing.

Ihanan lämmin heinäkuu. Ja lämpöä riittää vaikka loma loppui ja tänään koitti töihinpaluu.

Some photos along the way this year's sailing trip. The archipelago of Western Finland is simply astonishingly beautiful.
The second last photo shows what I'm crocheting now and in the last one there's the rubber band bracelet that my daughter made me. Love it!

Muutamia kuvia purjehdusreissulta saaristomerelle ja ulkosaaristoon. Ihan epätodellisen kauniita maisemia. Toiseksi viimeisessä kuvassa pieni kurkistus virkkuuprojektiin, joka jatkuu aina vain. Viimeisessä kuvassa tyttäreni minulle tekemä kumilenkki rannerengas. Tosi hieno!

Summer - Kesä

 We're back from a sailing trip.... Before leaving home I managed to spin my only TdF skein of yarn. It's merino from WildFibres in Traveller. I spun it into a 3ply yarn (navajo-plied) and ended up with 187m/100g.

Palasimme puolentoista viikon purjehdusreissulta ja pesukone pyörii tauotta. Ennen reissuun lähtöä sain kehrättyä valmiiksi vaivaisen vyyhdin lankaa Tour de Fleecen merkeissä. Nätti 3-säikeinen (navajo-kerrattu) lanka siitä tuli, 187m/100g ja kuituna Wild Fibresin merinoa.

Some photos along the way the southern coast of Finland...

 

I did not have time to knit during our trip but crocheted this pouch for onions. Just to be used in our boat. 

En neulonut purjehdusreissulla juuri ollenkaan, mutta sain sentään virkattua veneeseen tarpeellisen sipulipussin. Siellä on sipulien hyvä keikkua aaltojen tahdissa... 

Have a great summer - now I'm off to forest to pick some blueberries...
Hyvää kesän jatkoa kaikille! nyt matka käy metsään mustikoita poimimaan...

Home sweet home - Oma koti kullan kallis

We're back from 3 week sailing trip to Åland archipelago - and what a fantastic trip it was... Just love the scenery out there! So beautiful.
Ihanaa olla takaisin kotona kolmen viikon purjehdusreissun jälkeen. Vaikka kyllä Ahvenanmaansaaristo on sitten kaunis. Ja kun säätkin vielä suurelta osin suosivat, niin oikein hyvä lomareissu oli.

I also had a bunch of wip's with me (the KYH - projects - I've been bloggin about...) and I have several of them ready as well.

Otin mukaan kasan keskeneräisiä KYH neule/virkkausprojekteja ja sain ihan kivasti valmistakin . ("enää" 7 kesken... ehtii - ei ehdi ennen kuun loppua?)

At times my projects grew while "on the road" like this...

Välillä projekteja sai eteenpäin ihan "tien päälläkin".

And here's the finished KYH project # 15 - a crocheted beret for Bella.
I had no pattern, but it turned out real well I think. The yarn I used is Novita Cocos (a cotton- mix tape yarn, that's been discontinued)
Pretty cute eh?
Ja tässä siis valmistuneista KYH projekteista ensimmäisenä esittelyvuorossa KYH #15 - virkattu baskeri Bellalle. Mitään ohjetta minulla ei ollut - vaan virkkailin omasta päästä puolipylväillä koko homman. Tuli silti varsin passeli lätsä:-) Lankana Novitan muutaman vuoden takainen kesälanka Cocos.


KYH progress:
Finished: 8/25

Socks & new yarn

I managed to finish my very basic socks while away from home.
Pattern: Ribbed Lichen socks by Nancy Bush from Knitting Vintage socks
Yarn: Opal in some green butterfly coloring (cannot find the ball band right now)
Needles: 2.25mm

Because of this lovely green-black yarn that will hide any pattern imaginable - I chose a very basic ribbed sock pattern that is mostly mindless knitting - and still would give me something new to learn. The pattern has a Welsh heel (which is very interesting - has a seam stitch running in the middle of it and the resulting heel is very rounded) and a star-shaped toe. Both new techniques to me. You cannot see them in the photos as the yarn is what it is - but these "new" parts kept my interest going so goal achieved!
And - in the end - I need these socks . It's been a year (!) since I knitted socks for myself and all my socks have been darned at least twice ( three to four times of darning is the limit for me - after that - I throw socks away...).

Oh - and you surely didn't think that I got away with a sailing holiday without buying any yarn? No. I didn't think so :-) I just had to buy some local Finnwool yarn from Kasnäs.
The handle of this yarn is somewhere between coarse and soft. Somewhat rugged comfort. It still has some lanolin on it - which makes the yarn appealing to me - (and makes it smell like wet sheep...) Colours are natural. No dying involved whatsoever. And for me they are so beatiful yarns. Somehow touching them makes me feel connected to this land. and to past traditions. (which sounds so ridiculous and corny - I know...)
I'm planning to knit hats good for sailing (=dense & warm) for all in our family with those skeins... have few ideas in my mind - time will tell if they work in real life...

The last photo. Just snapped this for fun. It's the rope from our boat attached to a quay. (I love that pic.)

Sailing trip 2010

We're back from a two-week sailing trip to archipelago of Turku and back. Amazingly we had 2 weeks of very warm (+25-+30 celsius) weather and light winds - just perfect! Here are some pictures taken along the way...

Borstö
Mossy stones and wood in Borstö. Girls in their favourite place in our boat.

Nauvo

The wide open sea...
...and a beacon.
Laundry day in Korpoström... (evidently we have 3 daughters...:-)
Hanko harbour.
Life's a beach for girls in Hanko.